Recovering Quite Well

My Saturday took a turn for the worst when I pulled a baking sheet of crisp, blackened grape tomatoes out of the oven. I had patiently waited almost three hours and had been enjoying the garlic-y smell filling my apartment, when I decided to take a peek in the oven, just ten minutes before the timer was set to go off and, to my horror, encountered the scene described above. Crisp. Black. Pathetic looking charred bits of tomato and garlic sat in pools of olive oil.

I had been anticipating the process of slow roasting tomatoes all week long. It was so disheartening seeing my sheet of parchment paper slide off my baking sheet and into the trash carrying every last tomato and garlic clove, that I immediately felt restless, like I needed to go on a good, long walk or something. Well, given that it was mid afternoon, and these days that means it is 90-something degrees outside, I chose to remain in my nicely air conditioned apartment and redeem the situation with my next tomato project.

I watched these tomatoes faithfully as they slowly baked in a bath of olive oil, oregano, salt, and pepper. Even though they ended up taking longer than the other tomatoes, with the time set aside for them to cool at room temperature, and I wasn't able to get around to eating them, they were well worth the wait.

Molly suggests these tomatoes be eaten on toasted baguette slices with Bûcheron, or another aged goat cheese, which I agree sounds divine (though there's no chance of me finding Bûcheron in Abilene, Texas). Tonight, however, I just needed something quick and filling, so I spooned a bit of the saved oil into a skillet and poured two beaten eggs over it to make a thin, simple omelette flavored with salt and pepper. Folding the omelette into a bowl, I dished out two tomatoes on top and lightly grated Pecorino Romano over it all. Oh yum.

All that to say, my Saturday was thoroughly recovered. With the richly flavored olive oil and slowly baked tomatoes tucked away in my fridge, I forgot (almost) entirely about the $3.20 of tomatoes and garlic in my trash.

Recipes:
Slow Roasted Tomatoes*
Pomodori al Forno (baked tomato dish)

*I am still posting this recipe because I will be the first to admit that my oven is to blame, not the recipe. Last semester we had problems guessing the correct temperature based on what we were cooking versus what the dial said...I just forgot about that when I moved back in, and it took this incident to remind me.